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Last weekend we went to the Maffitt Lake Equestrian center show and did a combined test. Dressage was hilarious because he almost jumped out of the ring at C because the ring fence was about as high as the jumps we had been schooling earlier that morning. There is no video of the test, which is probably a blessing to us all because there was a lot of tension, and some struggle for right lead, but we managed to get it done and it really wasn’t that bad. So yay.

Here was my jumping warm up, in which Howdy was apparently quite impressed with the colors of the jumps because he had been jumping a bit bigger at home.

By the end of the day he had jumped four cross rail courses with only one rail. Doesn’t sound like much, I know, but if we get him believing he is the king of jumping and that he can jump whatever is in his sights, then then there are good things ahead.

Today’s adventure was the ranch horse show in Afton, IA. The whole point of the day was to see if Howdy would play with cows. We spent the morning standing in the ring watching other people do cutting, which was great for him. He stood with all the other horses and learned from them that cows are nothing to be afraid of.

This is my new friend Megan Pigott. She’s really good at this ranch horse stuff and was really helpful and funny. He pattern was stellar. We thought our horses were mutt and Jeff, but I loved her horse too! That spaceship-looking thing in the background is the Afton water tower.

Then it was our time to play! Our pattern was a little tense, but we got it done. Then the Universe blessed us with about the most cooperative steer of the day!

That was a pretty exciting start for us! The people at the Ranch Horse show were super nice and they clearly all loved their horses. Not one person scoffed at me wearing a helmet and everybody was very kind. It was a long day, though, and Jay was a saint and I am grateful to him for his friendship and help.

Next up is XC schooling at Catalpa Corner on this Monday, then a ranch show on June 10th.